Catholic Charities exceeds 2014 goal

Submitted

Tue, Jul 1st 2014 11:30 pm

Catholic
Charities of Buffalo officials announced Monday the 2014 appeal exceeded its
$10.8 million goal, with cash and pledges received to date totaling
$11,001,057.29.

Richard J.
Malone, Bishop of Buffalo, thanked all donors and supporters for helping
Catholic Charities to accomplish such an ambitious goal in order to continue
serving those in need throughout the eight-county Diocese of Buffalo.

"As a
result of the incredible generosity of the Western New York community, I have
the great joy of announcing we have met, and surpassed, our goal again this
year," Malone said.

The 2014
Niagara County total is $978,240.94. The county exceeded its 2013 total of
$961,319.93.

This year's
campaign launched on Jan. 7 with a goal of $10.8 million - $100,000 greater
than the 2013 annual campaign. Malone said he knew this would be a difficult
goal to reach, but he had confidence the appeal would have a successful
outcome.

"We are
all familiar with the quotation 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with
the first step,' but such a journey also requires a push to the finish line,
and sometimes it's those final steps that prove the most challenging. That was
certainly the case with the 2014 appeal," he said.

"When we
were last together back in mid-April following Appeal Week 2014, we were
approximately $1.9 million, or about 18 percent, short of our $10.8 million
goal. Over the past two-and-a-half months, we continued to slowly chip away at
our shortfall, reaching $9.8 million on May 12, and $10.3 million on May 21,"
Malone said. "Talk about going right down to the wire."

Sister
Mary McCarrick, OSF, Catholic Charities' diocesan director, said, "I would like
to add my deepest thanks to everyone here and to the entire community for their
generosity. Because of your support, our staff will continue to be the hands
and feet of Jesus to people in need throughout the diocese."